Erla Björk Baldursdóttir graduated as a fashion designer from London College of Fashion in 2010. Previously she studied design and handicraft at Iðnskólann in Reykjavík and Fjölbrautarskólinn in Breiðholt.

Erla Björk is currently designing for Hlýund, an Icelandic company that specializes in warm casual clothing for women. Furthermore, she is working on her first self contained collection which will soon be ready.

Guðni is one part of a the Snoop-Around website who’s aim is to visit creative people at their homes, work or in there studio space and hope to bring to light a unique view of their lives, through photos of their habitat, complimented with an in-depth interview.

Brynhildur Þórðardóttir is the owner and designer of the knitting company Lúka Art & Design. She graduated with a BA in fashion and textile studies from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2004 and completed her further studies at University of Leeds with MSc in Advanced Textiles and Performance Clothing in 2006. She has worked as a freelance designer over the last five years on projects for companies such as Zo-On and Varma as well as working on costumes for the play The Bacchae by Euripidesfor The National Theater of Iceland. Furthermore she was the costume designer in the film Polite People, released in March 2011, and the costume coordinater for the trailer of City State, which will be released in 2012. Both films are by Poppoli Pictures. Brynhildur ran the gallery GalleríBox in Akureyri for two years along with three other artists. Lúka Art & Design first had their studio at the Museum of Design and Applied Art in Gardabær but the current location is the Toppstöðin, Center of Energy and Innovation in Reykjavik. Brynhildur is passionate about costumes, fashion and clothes and is very excited about the collaboration with other designers at Toppstöðin.

Whilst on their second maternity leave Þóra Eggertsdóttir and Guðrún Heimisdóttir decided to start a company. They didn’t feel like their hands were full at that particular moment although diapers, bottles, babyfood and other necessities often occupied all hands available at that time. Still they wanted to stir things up a little and do something more than changing nappies and talking about baby names. So they started their first joint pregnancy, which only lasted a couple of weeks. Puzzled by Iceland saw the light of days in the midst of August 2010 and since then things have evolved pretty quickly.

Puzzled by Iceland helps travelers preserve their memories from their journey to Iceland. Puzzled by Iceland offers the traveler unique and stylish souvenirs in the form of a jigsaw puzzle with amazing photographs of Icelandic nature and wildlife. Inside each puzzle is a pamphlet with fun facts about what’s on the photograph, making the puzzle much more than just a puzzle.

The products have made quite an impact in Iceland whereas both Icelanders and foreign travelers seem to love them. Many companies have even given them as Christmas present to their employees or as business gifts, one of them being the mayor of Reykjavík.

The company’s business plan has won awards in a competition held every year in Iceland called Gulleggid and the products have had some media exposure in Iceland. The company has also been given a grant to take the brand to other countries as Þóra and Guðrún expect to release new products like Puzzled by Norway or Puzzled by Finland in the coming months. In addition to that they have also started offering companies the service of special made jigsaw puzzles suited to each company, www.puzzledbyiceland/b2b. This is of course available to companies all around the world.

Puzzled by Iceland has been a part of Toppstodin since February 2011. On Mother’s day in May they had a gathering at Toppstöðin where the former president of Iceland, Ms. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, and the representative of Unicef in Iceland came, amongst other people, to celebrate “the beginning of a beautiful friendship” whereas a part of the sales profits of one of the latest puzzles by Puzzled by Iceland, called “Pure love”, goes to Unicef.

Shadow Creatures is a clothing label by two shady sisters; Solveig Ragna Guðmundsdottir and Gunnhildur Edda Guðmundsdottir. Born and raised in Iceland, where the winters seem endless and darkness veils over the larger part of year, Shadow Creatures draws their inspiration from the shadows and folktales they arouse. For as long as myths have been told, children have gripped their sheets in fear of monsters lurking under their beds or strange creatures inside their closets. Our fear of the dark has long both taunted and piqued our imagination. It is the space between this terror and temptation that Shadow Creatures finds the inspiration for its mysterious spectrum of unique apparel.

Creative by nature, the sisters sought out challenging and diverse educations in complex design fields. Solveig attained her Masters in Architecture from Aarhus School of Architecture in the spring of 2009 while Edda sought her Bachelors of Fashion Design from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2008. Before establishing Shadow Creatures, Edda worked independently on distinctive ensembles, but it was in the spring of 2010 that the sisters’ collaborative vision took form.

Shadow Creatures is a clothing label that is all about the contrast between that which tantalizes: luxury, comfort and indulgence and that which taunts: eclipse, illusion, and mystery. The line offers flattering, ambiguous clothing for male and female using only quality silk, wool and cotton fabrics. Integral to the Shadow Creatures design policy is maintaining responsible environmental practices; aiming to produce clothing entirely out of organic materials from Fair Trade vendors.

Ari Arnórsson is the president for the Icelandic Green Cars Association. After graduation he has received different experience, mostly through research and communication, cars or a combination of both. His business Jöklar is currently located in Toppstöðin where Ari is working on car design for tourism and rescue.

Gunnar Sigfússon

Gunnar holds a Cand.Dipl.Ing. Degree from the Technical University Muenchen and has worked on control systems and laboratory measure software for electric motors from 1996 – 2000 for the University of the German Army and the Bus-Manufacturer MAN. From 2000 – 2010 Gunnar was developing user software, for Landsbankinn and Tölvumiðlun among others. From 2010 Gunnar has worked on the development on a new universal electric motor control system in cooperation with the german company ATPE.

Gunnar is currently working on software and computer-simulation for electric motor control systems. He also aims to build a test-laboratory for electric control systems in electric cars in Toppstodin in 2011 in cooperation with partners in and outside of Toppstöðin.

Guðrún Harpa Örvarsdóttir

Guðrún Harpa is an employed artist in Álafosskvosinni in Mosfellsbær. She graduated from Verkmenntaskólinn in Akureyri (college) in technical drawing 1992 and Image and textile from the same institution in 1995. She has also studied in Vancouver Canada at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Kwantlen University BC where she studied Industrial Design Sketching and Interior decoration. Recently she has been designing patterns from the canvases she painted in the years 2003-2005 and was followed by the universal acceptance of Course Innovation Bank. As she put together an impressive business plan for the textile product lines where the goal is to produce high-quality bedding and bathroom line for luxury hotels world wide. Today she works full force to bring the project into production and plans to

Hrafn Karlsson is a mechanic and has previously worked in a garage in Selfoss Iceland. He is a manager for Magna in Vestmannaeyjar and has designed and build many fishing industry devices. He works on different projects in the workshop of Toppstodin.